Red Balloons and Inculpation
by ArtemisPrime
Summary: Another day on Serenity, complete with bar fights and stitches. Each chapter written for a different prompt challenge. Usual disclaimers apply, as in, these aren't mine, just playing without profit.
1. Chapter 1

Red Balloons

Inara was a beautiful creature. She had finesse and grace to rival any companion and used them to her advantage. Like a panther hunting through the jungle or the lioness on the plains, she could sneak up on a man and pounce upon him without warning. Just one of the wiles that Captain Reynolds disliked about the woman.

Especially now when she stood at his shoulder peering at the bloody sink.

"You should be more careful, Captain," she said softly, causing the man to jump in his own skin. Inara turned to gather her tea. "We wouldn't want blood to sully the kitchen." She smiled and waved her eyelashes in that ever so subtle way.

"Yeah? Best inform the Doc then." Mal kept his palm under the cool water. The knife slice was superficial, but hurt like fire. "Seems shoulder stabs with pool cues get precedence over captains."

Inara paused in her preparation. "Is it serious?"

Mal shook his head. "Only in Jayne's mind." He huffed. The dumb bull had just stood there with the wood dangling out of him then flashed his most happiest of smiles. That little jab had earned the perpetrator the full on Jayne Cobb special. Of course, the stab them with a cue stick man wasn't likely to remember it after the head crunch he had sustained.

However, the level of yammering and belly-aching about how cut up Jayne was made the trek back to Serenity less than pleasant.

The boiling water brought Inara to her tea and she gracefully mixed the ingredients. She looked at Mal's hand, becoming red with the cold. "Do you need some help?"

"You offerin'?"

Inara rolled her eyes and picked up her tray. "Mules have nothing on you, Mal." The Companion exited the galley as River arrived. She inspected Mal's hand. "Did the knife win the argument?"

"Funny, li'l Albatross." Mal shut off the water and shook out his hand before grasping the nearest rag and holding it firmly to his wound. "Don't go thinkin' that just 'cause you can pilot as good as Wash that ya gotta take up his knack for comedy."

River smiled as she glided towards the exit. "I'm not the only funny one. Look at the platypus."

"The platy-who?"

River giggled, but said nothing more

Gorram girl made as much sense as a fox in a henhouse.

Tightening his hold on his injured palm, and still trying to decipher what that girl had said, Mal decided to head to the infirmary to see if Simon had finished with Jayne yet. His palm was beginning to throb and he was most hopeful for a smoother to dull it some. He stopped on the last step when he saw Zoe looking through the window, her face tight. Mal peered through the glass.

Simon was hunched over Jayne's prone form, his concentration intense. Kaylee was there, too, handing over and holding onto whatever Simon needed. Seemed a bit of overkill to Mal's way of thinking.

"Zoe? What's goin' on?" He stood next to her.

"Jayne's hurt."

"That I can plainly see and did hear much of whilst comin' home. You care to explain why the Doc's all bent over and lookin' for the world like he's in the midst of heroic medical saving?"

"Can't breathe," River chimed in from the couch.

Mal looked to the girl. "Say again."

River stared intently at the operation. "Popped the balloon."

The Captain looked to Zoe, his face filled with confusion and hoping desperately that his First Mate could fill in the crater sized gaps in his understanding of the girl.

"Jayne's lung collapsed, Sir."

Mal blinked. "Huh."


	2. Chapter 2

Inculpation

Sequel to "Red Balloons".

Disclaimer: all things Firefly/Serenity are the property of Whedon et al. I'm not making any money off this, just playing with the toys.

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"So you let him walk over a mile back to the ship? With blood pouring out of him?" Simon kept shaking his head as he stitched and bandaged the Captain's hand at the counter in the infirmary.

"Didn't think ya'd have such warm hearted feelin's for the man, Doc?" Mal smiled.

Simon glared. "My own personal feelings don't keep me from doing my job, Captain. A job," he cut the thread, "that you made more difficult."

"Look, Doctor, it weren't like there was a waterfall of blood and Jayne was walkin' just fine."

Simon raised a doubtful eyebrow. "He didn't say anything?"

Of course Jayne had yawped. Told Mal to slow down some or maybe get the mule so they wouldn't have to walk. But that had just been Jayne being Jayne - full of complaint about whatever the Captain decided and exaggerating the tiniest of cuts.

"You done?" Mal snapped.

Simon gave a final tug and snip and answered yes. "Come back in a couple of days so I can change the dressing." He yanked his gloves off and turned his back to Mal, examining Jayne's vitals.

Mal scratched his ear. Since Miranda, he had noticed a change in attitude from the good doctor in regards to the mercenary. Though he doubted Simon liked Jayne any more, he sensed that Simon felt a sort of respect for the efforts Jayne had undergone to protect the crew during the reaver battle. Even Jayne had limited his insults towards the doctor and not once had he called River crazy.

With a huff, Mal pushed off the counter and strode out to find his crew waiting to ambush him.

"You really are a mean old man," Kaylee announced, coming face to face with her captain. "Lettin' Jayne walk when he was hurt so bad." She huffed and crossed her arms.

"Jayne's a big boy who's been through heaps worse. He don't much take to fussin'." He looked to his first mate and found her expression unhelpful. Sidestepping his mechanic, Mal headed for the stairs to the crew quarters.

Kaylee bit her bottom lip then went into the medical bay to see if Simon needed any more help.

Zoe was rooted at the window now, fingers tightening around her arms as images burned through her brain of another man with bits of wood in his chest.

"Not fair," River said quietly, not looking up from the book she had pulled from the shelf behind the couch. "His stick was bigger."

The first mate swallowed.

"If wishes were horses..." River continued.

"We'd all be eating steak," Zoe finished. She looked to River, still engrossed in her reading. "He really going to be alright?"

The girl nodded.

Taking a deep breath and straightening, Zoe headed to the bridge, feeling a need to spend some time with a few dinosaurs.

Lifting her head from her book, River regarded her brother and Kaylee, watching as they smiled and brushed hands around each other. She felt their emotions rise and their energies focussing around each other. It was sweet and sexual. She giggled. Lucky for Simon that Jayne was unconscious; she knew how much her brother hated an audience.

Letting her mind wander, River went to Mal's room and blinked hard. Guilt was a new emotion from the Captain and he was unsure how to deal with it. The broken reading lamp on the floor bore the brunt of that frustration. She pulled back, not wanting to become overwhelmed by him.

Stretching her legs, she planted her bare feet on the floor and smiled at the familiar rhythm of Serenity underneath her. Even more than Simon's medical cocktails, this ship gave her the balance and stability she needed. That made it beautiful to her.

River's stomach rumbled. She rose and wondered if there might be any steak in the galley.


End file.
